Elizabeth Fisher, Ph.D., instructional design manager for the UAB Collat School of Business, has received Quality Matters recognition and the QM seal for her online faculty-training course, BUS 001: Designing, Teaching and Managing Online Instruction.
| BUS 001 is the second course in the state of Alabama and at UAB to be recognized by Quality Matters. |
Quality Matters is a nationally ranked peer-review process that reviews online courses with a rubric that features 40 quality standards using a team of three reviewers — a subject expert, design expert and external reviewer. The standards focus on course design and alignment of course objectives with assessments, learning activities and materials and learner engagement.
“QM recognition is a great honor. It’s hard work, but well worth it because if you don’t have interactivity and engagement then it is really just a correspondence course. The QM seal of recognition shows that we are providing much more than that for the UAB School of Business students,” Fisher says. “It also demonstrates the commitment to quality education that our faculty and administration provide. Dean David Klock and Associate Dean Karen Kennedy support and spur our efforts to expand and improve online instruction.”
The eight-week online course prepares instructors to develop and manage online courses while allowing them to experience online learning from a student perspective. Fisher facilitates this course each semester for instructors who are preparing new online business courses. She is a certified QM peer-reviewer and one of UAB’s institutional representatives for QM.
Fisher’s course is the second in the state of Alabama, and at UAB, to receive the QM honor. The first went to former UAB instructor Mickey Gee for his class Basic Marketing; Gee who teamed with Fisher for its development.